2012 Oscar Nominations Announced; HUGO and THE ARTIST Lead the Pack

The nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards have finally been unveiled. Many of the categories have fallen in line just as most have predicted (I fared alright with my predictions, but not great), with Hugo scoring 11 nods, followed closely by The Artist with 10. The biggest surprises are War Horse and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close getting in for Best Picture, the exclusion of The Adventures of Tintin from Best Animated Feature, and The Tree of Life nabbing Best Picture and Best Director nods (hooray!). On the snub side of things, despite landing the most precursor critics awards of any other actor in the race thus far, Albert Brooks was denied a Best Supporting Actor nod for his stellar work in Drive (boo). Additionally, Tilda Swinton was overlooked for giving the best performance of the year in We Need to Talk About Kevin, and AMPAS has no love for Michael Fassbender‘s haunting work in Shame.

There’s still plenty to be happy about, as Gary Oldman has his first ever Oscar Nomination (yes, that’s right) and Melissa McCarthy is a Best Supporting Actress nominee. Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominees. The 84th Academy Awards will be presented by Billy Crystal on February 26th.

BEST PICTURE

The Artist

The Descendants

War Horse

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

Midnight in Paris

The Help

Hugo

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

[Adam’s Note: The big shocker here is Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. The drama has landed virtually no precursor award recognition and most had completely written it off. Also surprising is the inclusion of War Horse, as it’s near shut-out from the guilds had many pegging it dead. That said, I’m extremely happy about The Tree of Life.]

BEST DIRECTOR

Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist

Alexander Payne – The Descendants

Martin Scorsese – Hugo

Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris

Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life

[Here Malick takes the spot that David Fincher held in the DGA nods. No argument from me, as I admire both films, but don’t expect Malick to show up at the ceremony.]

BEST ACTOR

Demian Bichir – A Better Life

George Clooney – The Descendants

Jean Dujardin – The Artist

Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Brad Pitt – Moneyball

[Lots to be happy about here with Oldman and Pitt (Oldman’s first nomination ever), but Michael Fassbender’s snub is extremely upsetting. That feeling, Academy? That’s shame.]

BEST ACTRESS

Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis – The Help

Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady

Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn

[I’m pretty happy to see Mara recognized for Dragon Tattoo, but the exclusion of Tilda Swinton’s brilliant work in We Need to Talk About Kevin is ridiculous. She gave the best performance of the year in my opinion, and absolutely deserves at least a nomination.]

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Berenice Bejo – The Artist

Jessica Chastain – The Help

Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids

Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer – The Help

[No big surprises here. I’m glad to see Chastain recognized. The perfect topper for an incredible year for the breakout star.]

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Kenneth Branagh – My Week with Marilyn

Jonah Hill – Moneyball

Nick Nolte – Warrior

Christopher Plummer – Beginners

Max von Sydow – Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

[Another major oversight here in the other supporting category. Really? You’re just gonna ignore Albert Brooks in Drive? Alrighty then.]

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist

Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo – Bridesmaids

J.C. Chandor – Margin Call

Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris

Asghar Farhadi – A Separation

[The surprise here is Chandor, as many had pegged either Will Reiser for his terrific 50/50 script or Todd McCarthy for Win Win to take that final spot, though it’s nice to see Wiig and Mumolo singled out.]

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash – The Descendants

John Logan – Hugo

George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and Beau Willomon – The Ides of March

Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, and Stan Chervin – Moneyball

Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

[Really happy to see Ides of March and Tinker Tailor here, but the clear frontrunner is that cracker-jack script for Moneyball]

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Bullhead – Belgium

Footnote – Israel

In Darkness – Poland

Monsier Lazhar – Canada

A Separation – Iran

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

A Cat in Paris

Chico & Rita

Kung Fu Panda 2

Puss in Boots

Rango

[I did not see two foreign films landing nods in this category and knocking The Adventures of Tintin out, but my horse in this race is Rango so it’s no skin off my nose.]

BEST ART DIRECTION

The Artist

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

War Horse

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Guillaume Schiffman – The Artist

Jeff Cronenweth –The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Robert Richardson –Hugo

Emmanuel Lubezki –The Tree of Life

Janusz Kaminski –War Horse

[This one has to be Lubezki’s to lose. Tree of Life is gorgeous]

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Anonymous

The Artist

Hugo

Jane Eyre

W.E.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Hell and Back Again

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Pina

Undefeated

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement

God is the Bigger Elvis

Incident in New Baghdad

Saving Face

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

BEST FILM EDITING

The Artist

The Descendants

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

Moneyball

BEST MAKEUP

Albert Nobbs

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2

The Iron Lady

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

John Williams – The Adventures of Tintin

Ludovic Bource –The Artist

Howard Shore – Hugo

Alberto Iglesias –Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

John Williams –War Horse

[Happy to see the Tinker score recognized here, but my favorite of the year was Shore’s beautiful Hugo score. Somewhat surprisingly, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ score for Dragon Tattoo failed to get a nod]

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“Man or Muppet” – The Muppets

“Real in Rio” –Rio

[While it’s disappointing to see only two nominees (as I would have liked to see a couple Muppets numbers performed on Oscar night), I’m extremely happy to see Bret McKenzie‘s Man or Muppet singled out.]

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